OTTAWA — The Conservatives' former national campaign director is helping to spearhead a push to bring proportional representation to Canada — despite his own party's apparent aversion to changing the current first-past-the-post electoral system.

Guy Giorno acknowledged that some Conservatives fear proportional representation would disadvantage their party and that it would be crazy to support it.

But he said it doesn't really matter whether it's good or bad for parties or politicians.

"The blunt answer is that I and other individuals and organizations are supporting this because it's right for Canadians, not because it favours or disfavours particular politicians," Giorno said in an interview.

Guy Giorno, a former campaign director for the Conservatives, says he's in favour of proportional representation. (Photo: Adrian Wyld/CP)

"What other argument is there? Why would one object to making our elections fairer, more democratic, more representative just because they don't work for the politicians?"

While such a dramatic change in the electoral system would require the Conservatives and other parties to adjust their strategies and modes of campaigning, Giorno predicted they'd all eventually adapt.

Giorno, who also served as chief of staff to former prime minister Stephen Harper, said he's been a longtime advocate of PR. And he is now a member of a new, multi-partisan group that is launching Thursday to push for PR, in which a party's share of the seats in the House of Commons would reflect its share of the popular vote.

The Every Voter Counts Alliance includes former Privy Council clerk Alex Himelfarb and a wide range of groups from YWCA Canada to labour unions, the Canadian Federation of Students and Fair Vote Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised that last fall's federal election would be the last fought under first-past-the-post rules, in which the candidate with the most votes in a riding wins the seat.

"Why would one object to making our elections fairer, more democratic, more representative just because they don't work for the politicians?"

FPTP routinely results in what critics call "false majorities," in which a party wins more than 50 per cent of Commons seats with less than 40 per cent of the popular vote. Critics say it also encourages hyper-partisanship and exaggerates regional tensions, rewarding small parties whose support is concentrated in one province or region while under-representing parties whose support is more thinly spread across the country.

Giorno said PR would require "more co-operation, collegiality, working together" among MPs from different parties.

Trudeau has yet to create the all-party committee he promised would consult widely and recommend within 18 months an alternative to FPTP.

But the Conservatives have already been condemning him for plotting to impose a new electoral system that would benefit the Liberals. And they've been demanding that Trudeau agree to hold a national referendum on whatever new system is recommended — a route that has killed electoral reform initiatives in three provinces.

Giorno said the alliance believes there must be "proper consultation" with Canadians but not such that it prevents reform in time for the next election in 2019.

"If the proposal for a referendum is designed to delay things beyond the next election, then that's not acceptable ... Is that the only way to consult? I don't think it is."

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Harper's Legacy: Top Achievements, Failures, According To Poll

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The Angus Reid Institute polled 1,412 Canadians between Oct. 26 and 28, 2015 on the legacy of outgoing prime minister Stephen Harper. The poll had a margin of error of 2.6 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Respondents were given a list of actions taken by Harper's government between 2006 and 2015, and asked to choose its biggest accomplishments and failures. A detailed list of actions can be found online.
Here are the results...

Harper's Notable Achievements
NOTE: The second-most popular choice was "none of these."

One in three — 36 per cent — chose this as the Harper government's top achievement.
(Harper stands in front of TVs displaying a 5% GST during a campaign stop in 2005).

Almost one-quarter — or 24 per cent — highlighted this action as a key achievement.
(Harper poses with then-finance minister Joe Oliver as he arrives to table the 2015 federal budget).

13 per cent chose this action as a notable achievement.
(Harper gives then-Assembly of First Nations chief Phil Fontaine a standing ovation as he responds to the official apology for residential school abuses in 2008).

12 per cent chose this action as a key achievement.
(Harper greets European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in 2013).

Nine (9) per cent chose this action as a key achievement.
(Harper drives an ATV across the tundra on Baffin Island, near York Sound, Nunavut).

UP NEXT: Harper's Notable Failures

27 per cent chose this action as the Harper government's most notable failure.
(A Canada goose stands on railway tracks as a plant operates in the background in Hamilton, Ont.)

26 per cent of respondents said this action was a failure.
(A protester in a Grim Reaper costume protests cuts to science policies during a 2012 rally on Parliament Hill).

20 per cent chose this action as a key failure.
(A protester demonstrates against C-51 at a March, 2015 rally in Montreal.)

16 per cent said the combat mission against ISIS was a failure, while 14 per cent said the same of the mission in Afghanistan.
(Harper and then-defence minister Peter MacKay look out from a bunker at an operating base in the district of Sperwan Ghar, Afghanistan in 2011.)

13 per cent chose this as a key failure.
(Harper holds up a pile of money during a 2015 campaign event).

UP NEXT: Defeated Tory Cabinet Ministers

Though Stephen Harper was re-elected in his Calgary riding in the 2015 federal election, many members of his cabinet went down in defeat.
Here are some key figures from Harper's inner circle who will not be returning to Ottawa...

Cabinet position: Minister of state for multiculturalism
Riding: Edmonton—Sherwood Park
First elected: 2008
Uppal also previously served as minister of state for democratic reform.

Cabinet position: Minister of state for science and technology
Riding: London West
First elected: 2008

Cabinet position: Chief government whip
Riding: Vancouver Island North
First elected: 2008 (though he also served as an MP from 1993 to 2006).
Duncan previously served as minister of aboriginal affairs.

UP NEXT: Defeated NDP incumbents

In the 2015 federal election, Thomas Mulcair's New Democrats fell from 95 seats to 44. And several high-profile incumbents from across the country were defeated, usually to Liberal candidates.
Here are a few key names that will not be returning to Ottawa...

First elected: 2006
Riding: Ottawa Centre
Shadow cabinet role: Foreign affairs
Dewar also ran for the leadership of the party in 2012.

First elected: 1997
Riding: Sackville—Eastern Shore (N.S.)
Shadow cabinet role: Veterans affairs
Stoffer was named Maclean's magazines Parliamentarian of the year in 2013 and frequently won the most congenial MP award.

First elected: 2008
Riding: St. John's East
Shadow cabinet role: National defence
Harris was also the longtime leader of the Newfoundland and Labrador New Democratic Party.

First elected: 2011 (though she served from 2004-2006 as a Liberal MP)
Riding: Gatineau
Shadow cabinet role: Justice

First elected: 2011
Riding: Halifax Atlantic
Shadow cabinet role: Fisheries, deputy employment insurance
Chisholm served as leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party and ran for the federal leadership in 2012.